Best American Kitchen Classic Louisiana Gumbo Recipes

GOOD NEW ORLEANS CREOLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture. Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.
• Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.
• Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.

LOUISIANA GUMBO

Steps:

• Place the chicken and water in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Skim fat. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30-45 minutes or until chicken is tender. , Remove chicken; cool. Reserve 6 cups broth. Remove chicken from bones; cut into bite-size pieces. , In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, mix flour and oil until smooth; cook and stir over medium-low heat until browned, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the onions, peppers, celery and garlic; cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the sausage, ham and reserved broth and chicken; cover and simmer for 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. , Add the shrimp, okra, beans, salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce; cover and simmer 10 minutes longer or until shrimp turn pink.

AUTHENTIC NEW ORLEANS STYLE GUMBO

Steps:

• Make the Roux*: In a large, heavy bottom stock pot combine flour and oil. Cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly for 30-45 minutes. This part takes patience--when it's finished it should be as dark as chocolate and have a soft, "cookie dough" like consistency. Be careful not to let it burn! Feel free to add a little more flour or oil as needed to reach this consistency.
• Brown the sausage. In a separate skillet on medium-high heat place the sausage slices in one layer in the pan. Brown them well on one side (2-3 minutes) and then use a fork to flip each over onto the other side to brown. Remove to a plate.
• Cook the vegetables in broth. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken broth to the hot skillet that had the sausage to deglaze the pan. Pour the broth and drippings into your large soup pot.
• Add remaining 5 1/2 cups of chicken broth. Add veggies, parsley, and roux to the pot and stir well.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 5-7 minutes, or until the vegetables are slightly tender. (Skim off any foam that may rise to the top of the pot.) Stir in cajun seasoning, to taste.
• Add meat. Add chicken, sausage, and shrimp.
• Taste and serve. At this point taste it and add more seasonings to your liking--salt, pepper, chicken bullion paste, garlic, more Joe's stuff or more chicken broth--until you reach the perfect flavor. Serve warm over rice. (Tastes even better the next day!)

LOUISIANA CREOLE GUMBO RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Bring beef and chicken to room temperature before beginning the recipe.
• Make the stock. To a large sauce pan add chicken broth, shrimp shells, and outer crab shells (if using), cover, and set over medium-low heat. When it comes to a boil, adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer covered for 20 minutes and keep on low until ready for use.
• Make the roux. Add oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and sprinkle in flour while whisking. Continue whisking until it turns a milk chocolate color, 16 to 18 minutes. Don't walk away during this step.
• When the roux is ready, add the Trinity (the onion, celery, and bell pepper), garlic, and Creole seasoning. Sauté until onions are translucent, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Strain the chicken-seafood stock. Discard the seafood shells.
• Deglaze the gumbo pot with with half of the stock. Add the can of whole tomatoes, crushing each by hand over the pot, plus its liquid.
• Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, thyme, and bay leaf. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Sear stew beef, in batches if needed, and move directly into the gumbo pot when done.
• In the same cast iron pan, sear the seasoned chicken thighs, skin-side down first, until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes total, moving them to the gumbo pot when done.
• In the same cast iron pan, add the okra to the rendered chicken fat, and season with salt and pepper and/or more Creole seasoning.
• Sauté okra until verdant and the viscous texture subsides, about 8 minutes. (This is known as "roping.") Add okra to the gumbo pot.
• Add remaining chicken-seafood stock to cover the ingredients. If the ingredients are not covered by the stock, add water.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes, giving a good stir and taste every 15 minutes. Season with more Creole seasoning, salt, hot sauce, Worchestershire sauce, black pepper as needed for your taste.
• Remove thyme stems and bay leaf. Gently remove chicken thighs from the gumbo pot to a cutting board. Remove bones and skin, cut into rough chunks and add the meat back into the gumbo pot. If the thighs have fallen apart, just remove the bones (the same number of thighs you added) and the skins you can easily find.
• On a cutting board, crack cooked and cleaned blue crabs in half. Then, with a mallet or the back of the blade of a chefs knife, gently crack both joints of the claws. (see RECIPE VARIATION with lump crab meat below)
• Add crab and shrimp to the gumbo pot, cover, and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
• Prepare a serving over cooked white rice, making sure each serving gets at least half of a crab. Garnish with scallions and hot sauce(s) for diners to spice to their taste.